Recent therapies have revolutionized the way diseases such as Age-related Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetic Macular Edema, etc., are being treated. An aging population and increasing prevalence of diabetes are driving the demand for therapies used in the treatment of eye disorders. Several pharmaceutical companies are actively involved in developing new therapies in this space in addition to those that have drugs that have already been commercialized.
Currently, the most common drugs used to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration are angiogenesis inhibitors, which are typically injected into the vitreous portion of the eye (the clear jelly-like substance that fills the eye from the lens back to the retina). Most treatments require monthly injections. Injections are associated with some risk of contracting infections, such as endophthalmitis, in addition to patient inconvenience. Also, the need for clinicians to treat an increasing number of patients burdens the healthcare system as a whole.
Drug-implants or drug depots have the potential to increase the duration in which the drug remains active in the target site. This reduces the frequency with which patients would require treatment with injections; this consequently reduces the burden on the healthcare system and also reduces the likelihood of injection-related risks to the patient.
A device to deploy or deposit such an implant or depot should ideally be easy to use for the clinician, cause minimum discomfort to the patient, and should not alter the drug delivery kinetics of the drug implant or depot. Current devices used to deploy/deposit implants typically require extensive training on part of the clinician, are painful (in addition to potentially being injurious) to the patients, and contribute to significant shear forces that could damage the implant. Physical damage to the implant may alter the drug delivery kinetics and consequently the drug's clinical efficacy and/or regulatory compliance. Current devices typically also do not allow for accurate positioning of the implant or depot.